From the article intro: “Word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews, either from someone they know or a stranger’s opinions online, are the most trusted sources of information for buying decisions, according to the latest Nielsen’s latest Global Trust in Advertising report.

The findings speak highly for information gathered through social media or other forms of user-generated content.”

Check this for example: “…though traditional paid media still are trusted by a great number of consumers, their influence is on the decline.

Nearly half of consumers around the world say the trust ads on TV (47%), in magazines (47%) and in newspapers (46%), but those numbers dropped by 24%, 20% and 25% respectively, in a relatively short period of time — between 2009 and 2011.”